The Visible Hand

So it's been a rocky couple of days since the big match, with all kinds of rumors flying around.


The biggest story to emerge afterward was an "exclusive" from the Mirror (no longer on their website, but summarized here by The Guardian), alleging that Thierry Henry & Lauren had come to blows after the match. With just seconds remaining, Henry had sent Lauren into the box with a lovely pass, only for Lauren to linger on the ball & fail to pass back to a suddenly wide-open Henry in front of an open net. That's the photo over to the right. Henry was visibly furious at the time, and apparently the two quickly headed to the locker room and continued their argument. But the Guardian story quotes from an Evening Standard report denying anything more serious than a simple misunderstanding, quickly settled by a good-natured handshake.

The next morning, then, the Mirror was back with another "exclusive," this time with quotes from Henry supposedly saying (this time summarized by the BBC):

"They [Utd] couldn't hurt us on the pitch so they tried to spread rumours about us. I don't respect people who spread this kind of rumour. I don't respect them as players and now I don't respect them as men. We can't be affected by this. There were no punches in the tunnel. I did not hit him and he did not me.That would never happen in this Arsenal team. We are too strong and too together for that."

It all seems very strange, especially given that Henry was available to speak to reporters after the match (and this supposed fistfight), and was in a calm & friendly mood, heaping praise upon his teammates & deflecting attention from his wonder goal. He was particularly glowing in his assessment of the job 18 year-old Gael Clichy did filling in for Ashley Cole at left back.

Quite a week already, but then Wednesday morning a flurry of stories appeared with quotes from new Man Utd French striker Louis Saha dissin' his teammate Ruud van Nistelrooy & claiming (rightly) that Thierry Henry is a superior striker. Real bright move Louis. He won't make many friends in the Utd locker room saying things like:

'Ruud lacks big-match experience. He has never played in major finals, either with United or with Holland, and he needs to gain experience at the highest level. Thierry is far more experienced. He has played in the finals of the World Cup, Euro 2000 and Confederation Cup and he is battle-hardened. He knows how to approach games like these. Ruud never scores from outside the 18-yard area and never takes free-kicks. It is very rare to see him trying his luck from distance. Ruud doesn't take much of a part in the team's collective play. His game is all about finishing.'

What an idiot.

In any event, this has resulted in another round in the long-standing "Who's Better, Thierry or Ruud" debate, which the BBC summarizes here. The BBC does an half-decent job, but I feel compelled to add to their work. They note the two's respective goals/game ratio favors Ruud:

Henry has scored 133 goals in 221 games for Arsenal, at a rate of 0.6 goals per game.

Van Nistelrooy has 106 in 132 games for United, giving him a rate of 0.8.

They then note that Henry tallies more assists & is a danger from free kicks, but then pretends Ruud's superior heading ability is a match for those attributes.

I think not.

Let's take a look at last year. Ruud just edged past Henry to claim the "Golden Boot" as the Premiership's most prolific striker, scoring 25 Prem goals to Henry's 24. Ruud did score 44 all season (including Cups & Europe) to Henry's 32, although Ruud did have the benefit of 12 penalties. But, the difference becomes clear when you consider assists (which you can see here, at the Premier League's website, by clicking on "Statistics" on the menu along the left). You'll see that last year Henry lead the league with 23 assists--with Ryan Giggs in 2nd place way back at 13 (with Beckham & Bergkamp tied at 9 apiece). Ruud was down in 60th place, with 4 assists. So not only did Henry lead the league in assists, he absolutely owned the category. And adding TH & RvN's assists to their goal totals sees Henry open a 55-48 lead in goals scored/created, and that's not counting the assists Henry earned in Europe & Cups (statistics for which, unfortunately, are not available).

It seems pretty clear to me--as it did to the 180+ National Team coaches who voted Thierry the world's 2nd best player to Zinedine Zidane this year--that Henry is superior.

Unfortunately, the big FA Cup Semi-Final this weekend might not answer any of these questions, as Wenger announced the other day that he would rest players who played in today's International friendly matches, namely Henry. And Henry played the 2nd half of today's match v. Holland. Of course, Wenger did only say that "I'll rest them if I feel they played too much for their national sides. I'm hoping none of them has to go through more than 45 minutes but we will check them when they get back," so I suppose there's a pretty decent chance Thierry'll play.

Whew, that was a long post. It's been quite a week already, and I'm sure there'll be plenty more big fireworks leading up to & during the match.
|

Arsenal did it. They set a new record, going 30 matches unbeaten from the start of a season, drawing 1-1 with Manchester United today at Highbury.

Unfortunately, the feeling afterwards was one of disappointment because we let them back into the match & conceded the equalizer with just 5 minutes left. Thierry Henry opened the scoring in the 50th minute with a true wonder goal, a swerving rocket of a shot from 30 yards out.

That's the photo over to the side. It really was an amazing goal, something special conjured out of nothing, leaving the keeper absolutely no chance. Arsenal played well in the first half, creating slightly more & slightly better chances, but it was very tight. Wes Brown, who's received a lot of (well-deserved) stick for his horrendous defending of late, snuck back to make a crucial block after Henry had playd Freddie Ljungberg in. On the other end, Lehmann reacted very quickly to block a wicked volley from Djemba-Djemba from outside the area.

The 2nd half--despite Henry's wonder goal--was actually more disappointing. After we scored, we obviously seemed content to sit back & defend our 1-goal lead. Generally, we looked pretty comfortable repulsing attack after attack, but I still had a nagging bad feeling. Wenger didn't do us any favors, substituting Robert Pires & Ljungberg--two of our main counter-attacking options--and bringing on Gilberto & Pascal Cygan. Cygan, normally a central defender, was apparently told to wander around the left wing & look clueless, or maybe that was just his own decision. Either way, 18 year-old deputy left-back Gael Clichy (who had an otherwise splendid game, repeatedly cutting in front of Darren Fletcher & Ole to make interception after interception) was left exposed. Ole had time to send a dangerous curving cross into the 6-yard box. Ruud just failed to get a touch (as did Sol), only for the ball to reach the far post where Louis Saha nipped in ahead of Lauren to tap the ball in. Wrenching.

Comic relief was provided by the band of Mancs in front of me who jumped out of their seats & starting running around & screaming & hugging each other like they'd just won the lottery. I noisily advised them to enjoy 3rd place & reminded them of the 12 pt difference between us in the league standings. I mean really, wildly celebrating a draw that leaves you 12 pts back? Pathetic.

They had to some of the most obnoxious, annoying & ignorant football fans I'd ever encountered. When Gary Neville tumbled to ground in the first half, praying for a penalty, they were all up in arms, jumping around & cursing like he'd been beheaded. Of course, when the replay showed absolutely no contact they quieted down, and I very much enjoyed my scream of "Diver!!" They also couldn't seem to tell any of our players apart, and kept screaming obscenities at our "diving French f*ck" Robert Pires, only they had an uncanny knack of targetting their Francophobic rage at Edu (Brazilian) & Jose Reyes (Spanish) instead. Lacking both class & brains.

So, it's Utd again in the Cup Semi-Final next Saturday, at 6am eastern time, and home to Chelsea in the Champions League three days later. Liverpool & Newcastle & Spurs follow close-on (and not to mention Real Madrid in the Champions League Semis if things go our way against Chelsea). Exciting times ahead, especially next Saturday. After I watch the Utd-Arsenal match, I'll hopefully be heading over to RFK to catch 14 year-old Freddy Adu making his MLS debut. And hopefully a nice nap somewhere in between.
|

Germany cuts its subsidies of Lederhosen. The article notes:

Germany can no longer afford state aid to help its yodellers buy lederhosen, the Bavarian Government said in a sign of how drastically public finances have deteriorated in Europe's largest economy... "We no longer want to sponsor the lederhosen with subsidies," Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber said, ignoring outcries from traditional folk groups, some of whom have threatened to boycott the opening parade of the Munich Oktoberfest, the world's biggest beer festival.The state had previously provided the 300,000 members of its folklore groups with 500,000 euros in state funds to help buy traditional Bavarian attire such as the leather shorts, amounting, one newspaper said, to a subsidy of 13 per cent per garment...A good pair of goat suede leather lederhosen cost about 150 euros ($US185).

Somehow I don't think this decision will imperil the fate of Oktoberfest. I'm sure the subsidies helped, but getting people together to drink tons of beer isn't something that sounds like it'd need state sponsorship.

|

If you're to believe this article in the Washington Post, the real reason Dean was so determined to keep his gubernatorial records sealed is that, according to his former pollster Paul Maslin, Dean "was sure he had insulted important Democrats and liberal interest groups in the documents" and had even told his staff in December that "I'd rather end the campaign than have the world see everything." I wouldn't find that too surprising, given that he had been a pretty moderate Governor of Vermont, and only after opposing the Iraq War did he gain this reputation of being a flaming, latte-sipping coastal elite Liberal.

The article also contains something that I think most observers, and especially late-night comedians, had already noted:

Although the endorsement by former vice president Al Gore was initially viewed as a coup, Maslin discovered in polling that it had "little if any value." That is because Gore's former Iowa supporters -- some of whom blamed him for the Democrats' defeat in 2000 -- said it made them less likely to back Dean.

Ouch. In any event, regardless of all the many documented Dean missteps (some real, others endlessly overblown), all Democrats should be very grateful to him for really shaking awake our base & returning a bit of backbone to the Party.

Lastly, according to this tracking poll, it looks like all the coverage of former counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke's complaints about the Bush administration's ineptitude is having an effect. Kerry is currently on top 48% to 44%. Other goods news is that Kerry's leading in both Ohio & Florida, two of the big battleground states this fall. Of course, this is all very, very, very early. Good news nonetheless.
|

Apparently picked up a knee injury yesterday and hobbled onto the bus afterwards (link here). Tests tomorrow to determine the severity of the injury. Hopefully it's nothing much.

At first I was gutted--Ashley's been playing very well, and it was his fantastic little chipped cross that Pires headed in for our goal. But I reckon Ferguson'll think his li'l wonderboy, Cristiano (one-trick-pony/Mr Step-over Dribble) Ronaldo will be able to get the beating of our 18 year-old 2nd choice left-back, Gael Clichy. Gael's faster than Ashley (indeed, Henry's the only guy in the squad speedier than Gael) and I bet he'd relish the chance to take on the Portuguese showboating (fake) Ronaldo.

It'll definitely be interesting. In other news, this weekend Britain changes its clocks to jump forward for British Summer Time, meaning that the big match Sunday will be on at 10am here on the East Coast, rather than the normal 11am Sunday start-time (something that Summer's has recognized, but the Lucky Bar has not). I'm sure the good folks at the Lucky Bar will realize their error though.
|

Everything to play for in 13 days at Highbury. 53 minutes in, Eidur Gudjohnsen scored a poacher's goal after a miscue from Jens Lehmann. Frank Lampard lofted a speculative long ball forward, Jens called off Sol as he came rushing out of the box, reaching it just before Eidur. But Gudjohnsen got his foot in to partially block it, and beat Lauren to the ball & knocked it the open net from a fairly tight angle.

Another howler from Lehmann (ShaunBotterill/GettyImages)

That's the image on the right.

Chelsea looked ready to run us over in the next 5 minutes, with only some truly inspired defending from Kolo Toure & Sol Campbell preventing a second goal. But just as things were beginning to look desperate, Arsenal grabbed an equalizer. On the right, Edu found Vieira in the middle, and he had time to spot a surging run up the left by an unmarked Ashley Cole. He stroked an angled ball toward the box, and Cole met it with a beautiful chipped cross. Pires ghosted in down the middle & leapt ahead of John Terry to power a header past the keeper and just inside the near post.

The momentum switched, and I thought it might be the 3rd time this year we'd come back from a goal down to beat Chelsea, but it didn't happen. I think we were content with the draw & the valuable away goal. Marcel Desailly was even sent off with 10 minutes to go, but we didn't press our man advantage too much either. Wenger threw Gilberto on & took off Bergkamp, with Freddie & Pires pushing up somewhat, but I thought Gilbo had a horrible few minutes--he contrived to give the ball away at least 3 or 4 times when under absolutely no pressure.

All told, it was a very edgy, very nervy, very tight match. It was the biggest match of the year so far for both clubs, and the tension was evident. It was a defensive battle in the first half, with plenty of great football being played but very few chances created. One disappointing thing was that Thierry Henry was very quiet, and it wasn't necessarily as tho he was being marked out of the match. He just never seemed to get into the flow of things, altho I think that might have been the result of poor service.

That said, he did make several crucial contributions on the defensive end. There were at least two times on Chelsea breaks where somebody played the ball across the box, and I'd see a Chelsea player coasting toward it, ready to smack a shot in. Then, suddenly, bursting onto the screen at breakneck speed like The Flash would come Henry to nick the ball away for a throw-in/corner kick. For those few defensive interventions alone, he had a pretty decent game.

Madrid beat Monaco 4-2, so ours is really the only Quarterfinal left in any significant doubt. Hopefully ESPN2'll broadcast it again next time around (altho I believe they might only broadcast matches on Tuesday), but if not, I'll definitely be getting out of work for this one.

So now it's Man Utd at home in the league on Sunday. At one point during the match the cameras showed Ferguson in the stands, chatting on his mobile phone. My guess is he was probably putting through an order for a Tonya Harding-style hit on Thierry Henry ahead of the weekend. That should be a massive game, and hopefully the team won't be too exhausted after this one; near the end, you could definitely tell both sides were running out of a gas a bit. The first 20 or 30 minutes of the 2nd half had been very, very open, up-and-down the pitch, and the midfielders on both teams ran themselves into the ground.

One last thing--here's something I hate about ESPN. Their announcers for these things always like to say crap like, "This is Bob & Billy, live at Stamford Bridge in Southwest London/Stadio Olimpico in Rome/etc/etc." But that's garbage--they're calling these games out of a studio in NYC or CT or whererever EPSN are based. Today the announcers started off by saying they'd been in Milan 24hrs earlier for a great match & now in London for another. But midway through the first half, just as Thierry Henry was streaking free down the left, the video transmission cut out & the screen went black but the audio continued. The announcer had been mid-sentence (something like, "Henry racing clear down the left") & suddenly paused. When the picture returned, Chelsea had the ball, and he said something like "er, and, uh, Chelsea have won the ball back." It was ridiculous.

Worse tho, was after the match ended at 4:45, ESPN2 reverted to 15 minutes of ESPNNews until 5. After the studio guy went over the big American stories of the day, he mentioned he'd be having one of the match commentators on to discuss European soccer, so I was very curious to see if ESPN would try to keep up its charade of "live" commentators for these games. But no, after the commercial break there was Tommy Smyth sitting across the desk from the ESPNNews host in the good ol' US of A, just minutes after signing off the match broadcast "With Derek Rae, I'm Tommy Smyth, signing off from London" or whatever. Absolutely absurd. I mean, I don't care if they're calling the match by watching it on TV, but they shouldn't pretend like they've got people on location if they really don't.
|

So, after a very busy couple of days at work, I'm back to blogging. Tomorrow is the first of four absolutely huge matches for Arsenal, as the Gunners head to West London to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of our Champions League Quarterfinal.

Obviously there have been loads of stories in the UK building up to this (Battle of Britain and all that), and I'll just try & link to a couple that I thought were fairly decent. Here is Jimmy Floyd calling Arsenal arrogant, here is Wenger saying we're not arrogant & expressing his respect for under-fire Blues manager Claudio Ranieri, and here is a story about Edu wanting to extend his stay at Arsenal. Here is "Big" Ron Atkinson, TV commentator, Guardian columnist & former Man Utd manager, explaining what he thinks Chelsea'll need to do to beat Arsenal (shorter version: crowd the midfield, kick Vieira & Henry, & pray for a goal on a counterattack). Here is Don Howe (former Arsenal manager) on the BBC with his Rx for Chelsea (again, mark Henry out of the match), although he concludes Chelsea won't be able to do it. I tend to agree--Henry didn't even play in the FA Cup match we won 2-1 at Highbury, and he was very quiet in the 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge a week later (altho his positioning wide left was crucial in distracting Mario Melchiot & creating the space for Patrick Vieira to run into & score the first goal).

That said, it's anybody's match tomorrow and I don't want to make any predictions or put any kind of a jinx on us. In today's two Quaterfinal matches, both home teams won fairly handily--Milan thrashed Deportivo 4-1 & Porto beat Lyon 2-0. Hopefully that'll change tomorrow, and there'll be two victories for visiting teams.

Hopefully I'll also be able to slip away from work in the afternoon to make it home/Summer's to catch it live, but thankfully ESPN2 will be broadcasting the match tomorrow, so I'll have my VCR running just in case.

Lastly, a couple of personnel preview notes. With Carlo Cudicini's long-ish term hand injury keeping him out, and Neil Sullivan's unconvincing performance against us in the league last month, it looks like Ranieri'll be forced to start third-choice 'keeper Marco Ambrosio, who hasn't much impressed either. If we can win a free kick anywhere near their box, I fancy Thierry or Edu will have a very good shot of knocking one past him. Left-winger Damien Duff missed the last two matches against us, and he'll certainly provide them with a spark. I think he'll be their biggest threat, and for that reason, I wouldn't necessarily mind seeing Wenger play a Pires-Vieira-Edu-Gilberto midfield, with Gilbo handed the role of shackling Duff. Obviously Ljungberg would provide greater offensive power, and if we're at the top of our game, Duff can't keep Chelsea in it on his own. Freddie's also done extremely well for us in the Champions League (the first football match I watched in England on TV was our 2-0 victory over Lazio at Highbury courtesy of a Ljungberg double in the fall of 2000), so I think I'd prefer to see him start. But if Wenger picks Gilberto, I won't be too disappointed & I think I'd understand his reasoning.
|

Here is a frankly astonishing post over at Atrios. He came across it via PA Democratic Senatorial candidate Joe Hoeffel (contribute here).

Today on CNN with Wolf Blitzer, PA Republican Senator Arlen Specter said the following:

“The Bush administration never made any claim that there was a connection between Saddam and al Qaeda.” – Senator Arlen Specter, 3/21/04

Apparently, Mr Specter has absolutely no shame & feels no compunction spewing total falsehoods. Atrios collected the following quotes (and you can go here to see them & others in Rep. Waxman's database):

“You can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam.” – President Bush, 9/25/02

“There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties.” – President Bush, 9/17/03

"There's overwhelming evidence there was a connection between al Qaeda and the Iraqi government. I am very confident that there was an established relationship there." - Vice President Cheney, 1/22/04

“There was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda.” – Vice President Cheney, 9/14/03

"Iraq and al Qaeda have discussed safe haven opportunities in Iraq, reciprocal nonaggression discussions." – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, 9/26/02

"There clearly are contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq that can be documented." – National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, 9/25/02

Truly amazing. Al Franken really wasn't kidding. I mean, calling this bunch Orwellian is fast losing any sense of exagerration. Up is down, Freedom is Slavery, we have always been at war with Oceania, & the Bush administration never claimed there was a connection between Saddam & al Qaeda.

Update: I did a bit of googling and found online sources for all those Bush administration claims, beyond what already exists in Rep. Waxman's database.

Update #2: Atrios is now pointing to this wonderful Flash animation ad from the Hoeffel campaign. Quality stuff. I hope this gets some airtime in PA.
|

Another 2-1 win for Arsenal, putting our name in the record books alongside Leeds (1973-74) and Liverpool (1987-88) for going 29 unbeaten League games from the start of the season.

Ferocious winds & pounding rain delayed the match 15 minutes, but that didn't affect me as I was watching it 2 hrs delayed on FSW anyway. From the start, it was obvious our boys were well up for it and intent on killing it off early & giving themselves some rest ahead Wednesday's massive Champions League match at Chelsea. In the 5th minute Henry crashed a drive from distance off the crossbar with the keeper well beaten, and Pires struck another promising effort from long-range moments later. Arsenal were utterly dominant & Bolton could scarcely string more than 2 or 3 passes together.

The breakthrough came in the 14th minue. Edu chipped the ball forward to Bergkamp on the edge of the box. Bergkamp controlled & knocked the ball back a yard to two to meet the run of the advancing Pires. Pires lined up his shot & curled a beauty past the 'keeper & into the top corner of the net. A simply gorgeous goal. Moments later, Bolton survived a scare when Thome's backheader would likely have gone in--sailing over his unexpecting 'keeper's head--but the wind pushed the ball wide. From that corner kick, Thierry used the wind to his advantage and nearly scored direct, but the Bolton player on the near post (Simon Charlton I think) cleared off the line with his head.

The 2nd goal came in the 23rd minute when Pires released Henry with a great ball down the left. Henry's first touch sent the ball across goal where Bergkamp met it with a fantastic volley into the bottom right corner. For the next 10 minutes or so, the stats had Arsenal with 90% of the possession, and my pre-match hopes of delivering Bolton an absolute thrashing looked on course.

But our concentration lapsed, and four minutes before halftime, we failed to clear a corner kick properly, and Ivan Campo tucked the ball home after a scramble in the box. Three minutes later Stelios Giannakopoulos should have equalized but his header struck the crossbar, and it was suddenly very much a close match.

It was much the same after the interval, as Arsenal now looked the nervier of the two sides. Wenger elected to keep Vieira & Edu in central midfield & stuck Gilberto wide right--and it was a poor decision. Gilberto looked lost any time he managed to get into the final third. Whenever he got the ball, you could actually see the panic in his eyes and invariably he looked immediately to find Thierry or Pires. Wenger finally put Freddie on for him after 68 minutes, and we looked noticeably sharper going forward.

Indeed, Bergkamp really should have killed the game when Thierry sent him in all alone in the 74th minute. As Bergkamp approached the charging goalkeeper, he inexplicably decided to try and set up Freddie, who was racing forward to join him, but followed closely by a Bolton defender. DB's pass was poor, and the defender nicked in ahead of Freddie--Dennis wanted a penalty, and on replay there was a decent shout for one. There was an even more clear-cut, obvious penalty about 10 minutes later--this time Henry raced in alone and just as he shaped to shoot, a Bolton defender slid in from behind, upending him. He did nick the ball away, but regardless, tackles from behind are clearly outlawed. Incredibly, the ref waved away Henry's angry appeal.

The last 10 or 15 minutes were a ridiculously tense affair--I kept having nightmares from last season when we allowed this bunch to equalise at 2-2 and lost the title. Thankfully, our defense proved equal to the task, with Kolo Toure (man of the match for me) standing particularly tall. Every tackle timed perfectly, he was showing great instincts and intercepted a number of passes. Most impressive, tho, were his rampaging runs forward--there were at least two or three occasions where after he won the ball, he didn't have any decent options up front. So, he decided to take off upfield on surging runs of his own, blowing past Bolton players and won a corner kick or two. The crowd absolutely loved it. It's my firm opinion that the primary reason we won the Double in 2002 was the addition of Sol Campbell to shore up the back (and Pires finally emerged as a superstar as well), and I think Kolo Toure has been one of the biggest keys to our success this season. He & Sol obviously have a great understanding and that we have the best defensive record in the league says it all.

Unfortunately, both Utd & Chelsea won, so we couldn't extend our lead any further. And our next four games are Chelsea (Champs League, Away), Utd (League, Home), Utd (Cup, Neutral) & Chelsea (Champs League, Home). We looked on top form for the first 30 or so minutes, and I feel we won't have any problems keeping our concentration against Utd or Chelsea the way we did with Bolton today.

Lastly, Real Madrid lost 4-2 today at Athletico Bilbao, meaning Valencia could close to within a point if they beat Mallorca tomorrow. This is Madrid's 2nd straight loss after Wednesday's 3-2 defeat in the Copa del Rey to Real Zaragoza, and it looks like their transfer policy of "offense-offense-offense and no defense" is finally starting to haunt them. If they keep playing like this, it may well be Monaco waiting to face the winner of our clash with Chelsea in the Semis.
|

After a bit of a break from soccer-blogging, I'm back with a preview of tomorrow's match against Bolton. But first, yesterday (Friday) was Kolo Toure's 23rd birthday, so how about a belated Happy Birthday to our fantastic young central defender. He's been a real key to our season, emerging as a very solid & skillful anchor at the back.

Along those same lines, I want to send my congratulations to Edu, who won Arsenal's Player of the Month award for February, garnering 50% of the votes from registered users of Arsenal.com (Henry was 2nd with 19%). Edu did have a great month--scoring the winner against Chelsea in the league, and a brace against Celta Vigo in Spain, plus just generally playing fantastic football.

Speaking of Edu, now that he seems to have temporarily won a starting spot in midfield, at the expense of Gilberto, guess who's batting his eyes in the direction of Spain? There were a number of stories this week about a purported interested from Atletico Madrid, with quotes from Gilberto saying he could be interested if Atletico worked out the details with Arsenal. Nice Gilbo, nice. Most Arsenal fans would be happy to see him leave, I think, but I feel he's useful to have around. Hopefully the stories are nothing more than the typical English tabloid trash & speculation.

In other (perhaps equally speculative) transfer news, it appears Arsenal are sniffing around Bayern Munich's right-back Wily Sagnol. As far as I'm concerned, that's a great move. Lauren was originally a midfielder, and while he's served well & without complaint at right back, he's never fully convinced me. He's had one or two horrific own goals this year (v Man City springs to mind for one), and he really doesn't offer that much going forward. Sagnol looked great for Bayern in their matches against Real Madrid in the Champions League, and he's a regular in the French national team. I was reading an article awhile back about how great teams--the Milans, the Madrids, the Manchesters--never rest on their laurels no matter how dominating their season and are always looking to add more quality, to sign another superstar. And as far as I'm concerned, the only department we need improving in is right back--Kolo, Sol & Ashley are fantastic, Jens is playing well at goal, Vieira & Edu are a great partnership in the middle, while Pires & Ljungberg are oustanding on the wings. Henry's the best in the world, period, and Jose Reyes looks very good (not to mention Jeremie Aliadiere & David Bentley coming up). Sagnol would be a great addition and would round out an amazing starting XI.

Returning to the game, Fox Sports World will be showing the match free on a two-hour delay, so my blog post will be a bit delayed as well. Our game at Bolton late last April all but ended our title dream--leading 2-0 with just fifteen minutes to go, it looked like we'd be equal to Utd in points but ahead on goal difference. Then, Bolton, playing like petty thugs, injured three of our players (Cygan, Ljungberg & Lauren), without receiving cards for any of their malicious & damaging tackles. Much more devastating, tho, were the two goals they knocked in--one actually scored by Martin Keown as an own goal.

The next weekend we lost 3-2 at home to Leeds as Utd won, and with 2 games remaining the title was officially lost & our 5 pt lead from the spring well squandered. Here's hoping something similar doesn't happen this year--I'd love to see us thump 4 or 5 past Bolton. After that thuggery last year, Bolton have been just about my least favorite team (after Utd, of course).

In any event, with a draw or win we'll match the all-time record for an un-beaten start to the season at 29 games undefeated. Of course, next weekend we'd be trying to break the record when we host United--and wouldn't that be sweet. First tho, we need to take care of Bolton. I'll be back tomorrow to share my thoughts on the match.
|

It's no accident that Andrew Sullivan doesn't enable commenting on entries in his blog. It lets him write utterly stupid & obviously false things like the following.

In a post pointing to this outstanding new ad from MoveOn.org, which simply catches Donald Rumseld contradicting himself on camera, Andrew Sullivan writes:

A PALPABLE HIT: MoveOn's ad attacking Donald Rumsfeld is not entirely fair. Rumsfeld never said that the threat from Iraq was imminent, or immediate, but that he could not know for sure. Nevertheless, this ad strikes me as a strong one, because it taps into general public skepticism about the honesty of their governments. That skepticism is a healthy instinct in a democracy

Of course, that Donald Rumseld had in fact stated that Iraq posed an immediate threat to America was the whole point of the ad!!!

Go watch the ad yourself and see. Or, here is the spiffy new database of Administration deceptions and misleading statements compiled by the office of Congressman Henry Waxman, which reproduces exactly what Rumseld has said--and what is shown in the very ad to which Sullivan linked:

"[N]o terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people than the regime of Saddam Hussein and Iraq."
Source: Testimony of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Senate Armed Services Committee (9/19/2002).

If that isn't a sufficiently clear expression that Rumsfeld considered Iraq to be an immediate threat, I don't know what is. Nevertheless, in the very act of linking to this evidence, Sullivan has the chutzpah to claim Rumsfeld's never said it. Amazing.

He must truly hold his readership in contempt, or at least expects them not to read/watch anything he links to.

|

So Justice Scalia published a 21-page memorandum today explaining his refusal to recuse himself in the upcoming case (03-475) involving Dick Cheney & the release of his secret Energy Policy Group's documents. The controversy arose because Cheney & Scalia went duck hunting together in Louisiana in December 2003, which raises questions about Scalia's impartiality & whether the two discussed the case.

Now, I'm not actually sure I've made my mind up about this one. As Scalia points out, obviously there isn't, nor should there be, a rule requiring recusal simply because Justices are friends with parties before them, or have even had friendly contact with them. Oliver Wendell Holmes regularly dined with Teddy Roosevelt, Justice Douglas frequently played in FDR's poker games & Chief Justice Vinson played poker with Truman. Scalia claims the trip was arranged well in advance of the case reaching the Supreme Court, and the two are long-time friends.

Regardless, I found the first few pages of Scalia's memo absurd. On page 3, Scalia claims:

It was not an intimate setting...All meals were in common. Sleeping was in rooms of two or three, except for the Vice President, who had his own quarters. Hunting was in two- or three-man blinds. As it turned out, I never hunted in the same blind with the Vice President. Nor was I alone with him at any time during the trip, except, perhaps, for instances so brief and unintentional that I would not recall them...My recusal is required if, by reason of the actions described above, my 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned.' 28 U.S.C. §455(a). Why would that result follow from my being in a sizable group of persons, in a hunting camp with the Vice President, where I never hunted with him in the same blind or had other opportunity for private conversation? (emphases added)

Okay, sounds reasonable.

Except for this. Just two pages earlier, Scalia wrote:

The Vice President said that if he did go, I would be welcome to fly down to Louisiana with him. (Because of national security requirements, of course, he must fly in a Government plane.) That invitation was later extended--if space was available--to my son-in-law and to a son who was joining the hunt for the first time; they accepted.

Sooo, now, lemme get this straight. You tell us you flew from DC to Louisiana with Cheney (and your son & son-in-law), and you can claim with a straight face that you were not "alone with him at any time on the trip" and had no "opportunity for private conversation"? That's just garbage. I very much doubt Cheney flies around in a tiny, cramped prop-plane, and we're supposed to believe Scalia & Cheney couldn't carry on a private conversation when there were only 2 other invididuals present--and both were Scalia's relatives?

That is just absurd. I mean, sure, literally, the two might not have been alone, but I rather doubt Cheney & Scalia would have felt unable to discuss whatever they wanted in the presence of two of Scalia's close family members. If Scalia wants to defend his decision on the ground that, factually, they didn't actually talk about the case on that plane ride or because social contact between Justices & high government officials has not, historically, been rare or the cause of other recusals, that's great. That's a legitimate argument to make. But it's simply insulting to describe flying down to Louisiana with the VP & two close family members and then claim two pages later that he never had any opportunities for private conversation.

In fact, doing so is the sort of thing that results in thinking that Scalia's "impartiality might reasonably be questioned."
|

According to this front page article in the Washington Post, the EPA as well as some DC workers have been aware of the toxically high levels of lead in the District's water supply since November, 2002. I blogged about this last week, in the context of a class action suit being filed. Back then, I expressed ignorance as to the merits of the suit, but it seems now they likely have a decent case.

Now that it appears the EPA--and thus the Federal government--is involved and at least partially (if not largely) to blame, any damages won by the plaintiffs won't necessarily hit the District as a double whammy. That is, the DC government's already looking at a pretty large bill to fix this problem, and getting tagged with damages would only add to it, which of course would eventually wind up costing DC residents more. But if it turns out the Feds screwed this all up, maybe they'll be forced not only to pay for fixing the mess but also for compensating all the DC residents harmed by their inaction & incompetence. Then again, I believe the complaint alleged that WASA (the DC water authority) had known about this all since 2001, and I'm not even sure if they named any federal defendants. I guess that's when you say "amended complaint."

Regardless, rest assured that I'll be happy to get out of here this fall.

Update: The Post also has an interesting interactive feature here where you can see the results of lead tests near you.
|

Great news in the blogosphere today--most of the folks who made up En Banc have reemerged to form De Novo. They have a number of interesting guest posts up right now, and they're sure to become a daily part of my blog-reading regimen.
|

Arsenal notched their 8th straight Premiership victory Saturday, beating Blackburn 2-0 away. Below is an image of Thierry Henry striking the free kick that opened the scoring in the 57th minute.

Arsenal never looked particularly great in the match, and at times the action seemed more suited to a training-ground game of keep-away. Even when they were trailing 1-0, Blackburn never really seemed interested in challenging us. They'd sit back, all 11 men behind the ball & in their own half, while we were content to play the ball across the back four. It was surreal, really. I felt like Arsene ought go over to Graeme Souness, tap him on the shoulder and say,"Hey, you do know that it's 1-0 to us, right? That is, you're losing. Maybe you ought to instruct your boys to actually play some football."

At one point I think Sol Campbell just stood stationary in the centre circle with the ball at feet, waiting for about 15 to 20 seconds before a Blackburn player even began to move in his direction to challenge him. Sky threw up a "Possession Percentage In The Last 5 Minutes" graphic a few times, and every time it was 80% or 85% to Arsenal. We looked extremely fluid stroking the ball around the pitch, but we didn't pose too many threats.

We should have scored a couple in the first half, but Pires unselfishly tried to set Henry up for a simple tap-in when he'd have been better served by shooting for goal himself. Henry also missed a wide open header--that's the last facet of his game that really needs work. He's a fairly tall guy--six foot or maybe six-two, but his heading is atrocious. I think he's scored maybe 1 or 2 of his 100+ goals for Arsenal with his head. Of course, this all goes against Arsene's focus on playing the ball along the ground, always passing to feet. It's a brilliant, beautiful flowing style, but there are times you need strength in the air--say, in the middle of nasty, rainy British winters where the ground might be a bit cut up.

The other big incident of the match was Thierry had what looked to me to be a perfectly legit goal disallowed in the first half. I believe Arsenal had a corner kick and after the ball bounced around in the area Blackburn's American goalie Brad Friedel claimed it. Everybody started back up the pitch, awaiting his clearance. Thierry loitered around in the aream, hanging back in Friedel's blind spot. Preparing for his drop-kick clearance, Friedel dropped the ball. At just that moment, Thierry stuck his foot in and nicked the ball away. A thoroughly perplexed Friedel drop-kicked air and could only turn and watch as Thierry tapped the ball into an open net. The referree blew the whistle and evidently decided for one reason or another that the goal wouldn't stand. The announcer was pretty clueless as to why not, and the match reports I read also didn't seem to be on the same page as to what the referree actually ruled. The BBC, however, ran a little feature which more or less sorted the situation.

Apparently, the referree decided that in nicking the ball out of the air, Thierry's foot was too high--qualifying as a "high boot" or as a piece of "dangerous play." I seem to recall that Thierry's foot was no higher than Friedel's waist, which wouldn't normally set off any alarm bells. In any event, we won & that's the key. This exact match last year--away at Blackburn, occurring almost a year ago to the day--saw us lose 2-0, and it began the slide that allowed Manchester United to sneak past us and win the title.

That's not going to happen this year you feel. Sunday Manchester United were trounced 4-1 by their bitter (and much less successful) rivals Manchester City, leaving them 12 pts behind us with 10 games to play. Next up we have Bolton at home next weekend, followed by away to Chelsea in the Champions League, home to Manchester United in the league, then Manchester United in the FA Cup Semi-final, and then Chelsea at home in the Champions League. And Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds & Tottenham up after that sequence. It's going to be a very interesting month or so, and hopefully by its end we'll have secured a spot in the FA Cup final, all but wrapped up the League, and be set for a Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. One can hope.

In the meantime, sorry for the light posting the last few days. Suddenly hit with a ton of work, and even a good bit of overtime this weekend. Thankfully, I managed to catch Arsenal's match regardless. I have a boatload of political/legal type posts I've been meaning to write and hopefully sometime soon I'll get around to doing so. I've also been thinking about starting a new blog and focusing solely on Arsenal/soccer, since that's primarily what I blog about here anyway, and I have to imagine is the reason most people are here reading. I'd concentrate on the football there, but continue to post the political/legal thoughts here. Anyhow, let me know what you think in the comments box if you feel like it.
|

A magnificent night for Arsenal, as two classy goals from Thierry Henry sent the Gunners thru to the final 8 of Europe's biggest competition. The first came courtesy of a brilliant through ball from Dennis Bergkamp, putting Henry into the area alone. From something of a tight angle, Henry sprinted onto the ball and with his first touch smacked it past the keeper.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect--it took just 14 minutes, and it meant Celta would have to score 3 goals to win. And that was just never going to happen.

Henry nabbed his second at the 34 minute mark, after a fine cross from Freddie Ljungberg on the right. A Celta defender nipped in front of Pires and headed the ball backwards, only for Henry to sneak in alone at the back post. Henry controlled the ball off his chest, and slammed home on the half-volley. That's the picture to the right.

Thierry Henry prepares to make it 2-0 (NigelFrench/Empics)

He could have had a hat trick just before the first half ended too. Pires was sent through, and rather than shooting for goal himself, he held the ball up and played it across to a streaking Henry. The keeper came out to make it a tough angle, and Henry's shot bounced off his neck--it really should have been a goal, but it truly didn't matter.

Ashley Cole, Edu & Ljungberg could all have easily scored, the latter two just mistiming wide-open headers. We even played the last 20 minutes 11 on 10 after Contreras fouled Jose Reyes (on for Pires) to pick up his second yellow. It was a comphrensive victory, and Celta never looked like posing us any trouble. On this form, Arsenal should have nothing to fear from any of the remaining sides in the competition.

Speaking of, the Madrid-Munich match was again a thriller, with Madrid keeper Iker Casillas pulling out some top, top-class saves to keep Madrid alive. Zidane scored the only goal of the match off an acrobatic tap-in at the far post after Munich failed to deal with a high ball in the box. Having watched both matches, Munich looked the better side, and their frustration clearly told when they basically started a brawl near the end of this match.

So Madrid made it through, along with us, Milan & Monaco today. That makes 2 French teams in the final 8, the first time they've had any make it this far in the last 5 years. I'd love to see Arsenal paired with either of the French clubs or with Porto, but I really think the way we're playing we could stroll past anybody right now.

Lastly, this was the first time I'd been to Summers Sports Bar in a while, and wow, that place looks great right now. They had something like 15 flat screen TVs--I swear, I haven't seen that many TVs at Best Buy even--and a brand new totally non-smoking bar area. It was fantastic--I had both matches (Arsenal-Vigo & Madrid-Munich) on flat screen LCD TVs hanging on the wall 5 or so feet from my booth.

The draw for the Quarterfinals is Friday, and this year apparently they're making it a bracketed draw, which means all the potential semi-final opponents are known (in years past, I recall a new draw at each successive stage). This is only the second time Arsenal have made it to the Quarterfinals. The last time, in 2000-01, we beat Valencia 2-1 at Highbury, and I watched us lose 1-0 in Valencia out on the Aran Islands west of Ireland in what, until today at Summers, was the best sports bar I'd ever been to.

My friend & I were the only English speakers in the bar--everyone else was well over 70 & muttering to one another in Gaelic. The people were incredibly friendly, and I managed to communicate quite well with a bunch of drunk old Irishmen simply by repeating players' names & saying the word 'good.' Even though Arsenal lost and crashed out of the competition, that remains one of my favorite soccer memories.

|

Porto scrambled in a late 90th minute goal to draw 1-1 with Manchester United, and win 3-2 on aggregate. Beautiful. It gave the BBC occasion to run perhaps my favorite photo of manager Fergie:
I must say I do enjoy that.

It does sound like Utd had some bad luck--Scholes had a goal disallowed for offside that replays clearly showed was legitimate. But it couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch. This also ends Utd's truly remarkable 7-year record of making it at least as far as the Quarterfinals. The only bad thing about this all is that it sounds like American 'keeper Tim Howard was largely at fault for the goal--he could only parry what was an apparently routine free kick, and Porto's goal came off that rebound.

Along with Porto, advancing to the final 8 were Lyon, Deportivo & Chelsea. I think Arsenal could comfortably deal with any of those four, and there'd certainly be something sweet about landing Porto & mopping the floor with them in the Quarterfinals. First, though, Celta Vigo must be dispatched tomorrow. I'm sure Arsene's keeping the team focused though--even more than his impeccable eye for talent, his pyschological & motivational skills have to be his biggest asset.
|

I've blogged about the desperate situation of Baltimore's public schools a once before, and on that occasion I cheered the willingness of Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich to step in and make sure B-more would have enough money to make it through the end of the school year. His involvement didn't look likely, particularly given Mayor O'Malley & he aren't the best of buddies.

Last night, however, the story dramatically reversed. After three weeks of negotiations, yesterday Ehrlich unveiled the details of his plan to provide $42m to help with the school district's $58m deficit ($16m is being provided as a loan by the Abell Foundation, a Baltimore philanthropic group). His plan would have transferred control over the school district to a new independent financial authority, with the majority of members appointed by him--and with the power to shred union contracts with Baltimore's teachers after July 1. It doesn't take a genius to recognize this plan would have been a recipe for cuts in teachers' pay and firings--exactly what an overcrowded, impoverished school district needs.

So late last night Mayor O'Malley rejected the Governor's plan and the Baltimore city council decided to dip into its "rainy day" fund to provide a $42m emergency loan to the school system. That'll leave just $12m in the city's fund, which could put its A+ bond rating at risk, and the result will almost surely be higher taxes. Then again, I think higher taxes are preferable to a depleted & demoralized teaching corps.

In the end, neither O'Malley or Ehrlich comes out of this looking too great. O'Malley's side is accusing Ehrlich of playing politics with the bailout, while it seems O'Malley didn't bother to tell Ehrlich he'd be turning down his help; Erhlich first heard of the rejection through the media. Hopefully now that funding seems secured for the rest of the school year, the focus will return to restoring competence & accountability to school system.
|

Here's a round-up of some more Arsenal news ahead of the big 2nd Round 2nd Leg match tomorrow. Here's another interesting piece which declares Arsenal are the best British team ever. From this preview, I see that Pierluigi Collina, the world's most famous referree (you know, that creepy looking bald guy), will be running the show. And in this story, Celta's captain Alexander Mostovoi figures their mission is impossible, declaring:

The only chance we have got is to go there, score two and then send everyone back to defend. And I mean everyone: the players, the president, directors and the board, the press, everyone.

Well, it looks like we have the mental battle won already.

Meanwhile, there's already been some jiggering with the FA Cup Semi-Final between Arsenal & United. Originally set for Sunday April 4, the game has now been moved to Saturday April 3, due to the possibility that one or both teams will be playing in the Champions League that Tuesday/Wednesday. And of course, if we both advance, there is a chance we'll meet in the Champions League Quarterfinals, setting up 4 matches between us in roughly 3 weeks. The other news is that the match venue may be switched from Villa Park--home to that Semi-Final replay from '99, and memories of Bergkamp's last minute penalty miss & Giggs' wonder goal winner--to the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. Both sets of fans agree on the switch, due to Cardiff's larger capacity, altho Utd seem to be opposed on principle that the Semi-Final shouldn't be played in the same venue as the Final. Whatever.

Lastly, I caught highlights from the 5-1 win at Portsmouth last night, and Arsenal looked absolutely awesome. Henry scored two fantastic goals, and Edu provided a perfect assist for Ljungberg, who applied just the right finish. Even Kolo Toure's goal was impressive--not often you see a centre-back in the opponent's penalty area, smoothly turning his defender and firing a shot on goal.

Tomorrow should be an exciting match, and while I'd love to see Arsenal just run all over them, I'm sure it'll be a nail-biter right up until the final whistle.
|

I'm just surprised this took so long. I actually have no idea if this suit has any merit, but it does seem like some folks--either at DC Government, WASA (Water And Sewer Authority), or the Army Corps of Engineers,which apparently operates the Washington Aqueduct & is charged with keeping it lead free--have colossally dropped the ball. Whether their incompetence was criminal or something for which they should be financially liable, I don't know.

For those outside the DC area or new to the story, recent residential testing has uncovered shockingly high amounts of lead in the City's water supply--several dozens times the federal limits, posing massive health risks to young children. The two plaintiffs in this class action suit, for instance, both have very young children, and their water tested at 310 parts per billion (ppb) and 435 ppb; the federal limit is 15 ppb, and most experts think that number is insufficiently strict.

The suit claims that WASA's known about this problem since 2001, and instead of solving it, its response has been geared toward concealing it. I'll try and keep up on this as it unfolds. In any event, I just hope Ann Arbor & Philly--or wherever I end up going to law school--are doing a better job of keeping their water lead-free.
|

In the Semi-finals of the FA Cup. Unfortunately I missed Arsenal's dominating 5-1 thrashing of Portsmouth Saturday, after which even Portsmouth's supporters were wildly applauding our brilliance. It sounds like it was just a beautiful match, and the highest praise came from Pompey manager Harry Redknapp:

I appreciate great players and it was good to see our fans cheering people like Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira. Football must not be all about hate. They are all athletes, almost monsters. As strong as an ox. There's no way you can start kicking people like Patrick Vieira. And Henry? He's got to be right up there with the best you have ever seen. When you see his name on the team sheet now as an opposition manager you just say 'Oh no.'

Thierry continued the lovefest:

"Their fans were outstanding," Henry told BBC1. "I have never seen that in my life - even when they were four or five down they kept singing. I hope they don't get relegated, they deserve to stay in the Premiership with fans like that."

(thanks to arseblog for finding that one).

And then today the Semi-final draw paired Utd with Arsenal, while 1st Division Sunderland will face either fellow 1st Division side Millwall or 2nd Division Tranmere. Sure part of the romance of the FA Cup is lower division sides hanging around & scraping through to the final, but I think everybody has to know the winner of the Utd/Arsenal match is going to claim the Cup.

What I find most interesting about it all is that Arsenal were already scheduled to host Utd in the Premiership Sunday March 28, and now they meet again the very next week, Sunday April 4, for their semi-final. Of course, all kinds of memories are being drudged up of the classic semi-final battle between Arsenal & Utd in 1999, when Ryan Giggs scored an amazing goal to give United a 2-1 win and a date in the Final, setting up the Treble (League, FA Cup & Champions League), their most successful season ever. Obviously, it would be delicious for history to repeat itself in reverse this year.

But there's plenty left to do, starting with Wednesday's Champions League match at home against Celta Vigo. I'm definitely going to be watching this one, although it'll again be hard not to pay roughly equal attention to the Real Madrid-Bayern Munich game at the same time. Their first match ended 1-1, which was a decent result for Madrid, but Ronaldo was injured over the weekend and will miss the game.

Lastly, here's a column from former Liverpool legend & current BBC commentator Alan Hansen--who sometimes gets on my nerves. Like when he used to always pipe up with some disparaging comment about how Arsenal were going to bottle it in the 2nd half. Anyhow, he's changed his tune recently--I noticed it recently during the FA Cup match against Chelsea. Hansen & former Utd keeper Peter Schmeichel were at odds--Peter was heavily backing Chelsea while Alan was predicting Arsenal. At halftime with Chelsea leading 1-0, Peter was gloating insufferably about how his prediction looked golden, and ribbing Alan about changing his. He didn't; he simply said, the match isn't over and I think Arsenal will win it in the second half. And, of course, after two goals from Jose Reyes in five minutes we won. I've started to like him better ever since. Anyhow, the column is an interesting one--he declares that "Arsenal's awe-inspiring performance at Portsmouth confirmed they are the most devastating team in British football history." Rather impressive coming from somebody at the heart of the dominating Liverpool side of the 1980s, which would probably be just about everybody else's choice for the most devastating British team in history.

Update: Another anecdote from the weekend. Here's Amy Lawrence's intro to her write-up in the Sunday Observer:

'Can we play you every week?' inquired the Portsmouth fans cheerfully at 5-0 down. Now either that is inspired irony, or the fantastically loyal Pompey fans had it in them to appreciate that with Arsenal in town they were able to watch football from another planet.

Wednesday can't come fast enough...
|

In a study of the world's biggest sports franchises that is. Deloitte and Touche compiled a list ranking the "richest" sports franchises based on 2002-03 revenue. Here's a list of the global Top 10, with 4 soccer clubs in the top 6.
1. Manchester United (England) $287.5
2. New York Yankees (baseball) $278.8
3. Juventus (Italy) $249.6
4. AC Milan (Italy) $228.9
5. Washington Redskins (football) $226.1
6. Real Madrid (Spain) $220.2
7. Boston Red Sox (baseball) $211.1
8. Seattle Mariners (baseball) $207.1
9. Dallas Cowboys (football) $197.1
10. San Francisco Giants (baseball) $192.2

SI.com has a larger list. Arsenal, with 02-03 revenues of $172m, would be just shy of cracking the US Top 10, nipping at the heels of the Cleveland Browns & NY Mets, who took in $174.2 million & $173.2 million, respectively.

I suspect Arsenal will do a fair bit better this year--advancing past Celta Vigo in the Champions League Wednesday could possibly mean another $5-10m. And of course when the new stadium opens, its revenues should rise dramatically. But I shouldn't be counting any chickens just yet--first they need to finish Vigo off next week...
|

Arsenal travel to the South Coast to face Portsmouth in the Quarterfinals of the FA tomorrow, bidding to make their 5th semi-final appearance in the last 6 years. Over at the "Plus" portion of Arsenal's website, I watched an interview with Wenger discussing the upcoming week, which also includes Wednesday's Champions League match at home against Celta Vigo.

Several pieces of good news. First, although Wenger often uses FA Cup games to give Thierry Henry a rest, he made it fairly clear that Henry would figure on Saturday. As to whether he'd start, Wenger was appropriately cagey, but I expect he will. Next, young French striker Jeremie Aliadiere is fit again after picking up a knee injury in early January. He's scored twice in the last two Reserves matches, and I'm sure he'll be eager to impress on his return, especially given the threat to his playing time posed by our new Spanish striker Jose Reyes. I wouldn't be surprised to see Aliadiere start alongside Henry, with Bergkamp & Reyes both rested in preparation for Wednesday. Although I think it'll be Henry & Bergkamp who start Wednesday, I wouldn't be surprised to see Reyes introduced at some point against his fellow Spaniards.

Martin Keown has also recovered from injury, which provides some more depth in defense, and there is a small chance that Wenger might rest Sol Campbell and use a Kolo-Keown central pairing. Sol's apparently been playing through a small groin strain--that was his reason for missing England's meaningless friendly match against Portugal a couple weeks ago--and he could probably use the rest.

Of course, Portsmouth shouldn't be underestimated--they just knocked Liverpool out of the Cup, and gave us a torrid time at home back in September. That match ended 1-1, but only because Robert Pires fell in the penalty area when a Portsmouth player appeared to blow in his general direction. I'm sure Bob will receive a tremendous and warm reception from the home crowd tomorrow.

I'll be in Baltimore tomororw, but hopefully I'll be able to find a bar somewhere that's showing the match. If I see it, I'll definitely blog about when I get a chance, although I don't know when that'll be. And if anybody knows of a good place in B-more to watch soccer, drop me a line.

Update: Well, according to this BBC report, Thierry will start, and both Pires & Bergkamp (as I expected) will be rested tomorrow. That reinforces my suspicion that Wenger will start Aliadiere alongside Thierry. The midfield shape could be interesting, as Parlour's still out injured. My guess is that Edu will switch over & fill Pires' space on the left wing, with Vieira & Gilberto in the middle and Freddie wide right.

Update 2: Never mind all that. This Arsenal.com preview says Jeremie Aliadiere has now picked up a thigh injury and will not figure. Poor guy. He figured in the first 4 or 5 matches last season, scoring a goal or two, and then was injured for several months. When he finally got another chance at first team action this past winter, he impressed again, scoring a wonder goal in the Carling Cup. And then he got hurt. And Arsenal bought Jose Reyes. Now, with another chance to figure in a big match, he's hurt again. Hopefully he'll get his chance sooner or later.
|

Elisabeth Bumiller of the NY Times has been on a roll. I already mocked her stupid "Really quick, is God on America's side" question during Sunday's Democratic Presidential debate (as have many others). But she demonstrated her stupidity again Monday (and thanks to TAPPED's Matthew Yglesias who blogged this the other day).

In an "article analyzing Bush's support of the Federal Marriage Amendment, Bumiller writes:

Although the president's behavior might reinforce the view among his critics that he was acting cynically when he endorsed the amendment, the fact is that he has a record of tolerance in personal situations.

Where do you begin with something so stupid & incoherent?

In her desire to deflect criticism of Bush, Bumiller's trying to have it both ways. That is, she's trying to say, he doesn't really hate gays, and he's really not just doing this as a cynical political ploy. But stepping out of Bumiller's bizarro world and back into reality, either Bush is doing something he sincerely believes in (which means he's really not so tolerant of homosexuality) or he's not doing something in which he sincerely believes--and which might be at odds with how he conducts his personal life--and is therefore acting quite cynically. That he seems to have a "record of tolerance in personal situations" only serves to further reinforce opinions that his support of the FMA is cynical. His "personal tolerance" does absolutely nothing to contradict the impression of his political cynicism--indeed, it's the very definition of political cynicism!

I'm at a loss trying to figure out how this woman has a job at the New York Times. I mean, even the guy who just made up his stories at least made sure his articles made sense.
|

With its decision yesterday, the DC Circuit basically overturned all of the FCC's latest attempts to fashion rules regulating the Baby Bells (i.e. forcing them to play nice & allow competitors into the markets for local telephone service). Having attended that argument--where the Judges just reamed the Commission's Deputy Associate General Counsel--the result wasn't too surprising.

Indeed, just knowing a bit of the history of all this makes it pretty unsurprising. The FCC has 5 Commissioners, 3 now appointed by Republicans and 2 appointed by Democrats, with Michael (son of Colin) Powell the Chairman. The GOP Commissioners wanted to gut the regulations restraining the Baby Bells, while the Democratic commissioners wanted to keep more stringent regulations in place to ensure the viability of new competing local telephone companies, so we didn't just relapse back to the old system of monopoly local telephone service (that, of course, is a very simplified telling of things; the Baby Bells (Verizon/SBC)/GOP Commissioners tend to frame their arguments in terms of the stricter regulations "deterring investment & innovation." That is, what incentives do they have to invest & innovate if the regulations let their new competitors free-ride on their efforts? To which the other side counters: "Well sure, your incentives to invest would be higher if you were a monopoly & could keep all the profits, but the point is Congress & America decided we didn't want monopolies in local telephone service any more!).

To avoid getting into messy technical details, let's say there were three main regulatory methods the FCC could use to help protect competition, say, Methods A, B & C. The Democrats liked all three, but felt A would be most effective, followed by B, then C. Powell & one other GOP commissioner really liked B, but hated A & C. So you might think that would be 4 votes for method B, and that the FCC would have at least enacted method B. Right?

Wrong. The 3rd GOP commissioner hated B. But he was willing to vote with the 2 Democrats on A & C, so long as they would join him in voting against B. This was all publicly stated in the Commissioners' statements when the rules were released--Powell specifically denounced the rules as the result of political horse-trading (which, of course, they were). So because of this bartering, Method B, which 4 out of 5 Commissioners liked, was spurned in favor of measures supported, really, by just 2 of the 5 Commissioners.

No wonder the rules turned out so messed up and were judged to be incoherent! Anyhow, many of the private parties involved will be appealing, and some of the Commissioners have also already publicly stated their intent to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Pretty amazing to think that Congress passed its reform of the Telecommunications Act in 1996, and here we are in 2004, and the fight over how the rules should be drawn & implemented is still far from over.
|